Weiner Says He’s “100 Percent” Done With Sexting

Anthony Weiner tells NBC 4 New York he is “100 percent not” having any type of online relationships with anyone now, and says for the first time he has not kept any records of his past lewd affairs.

“I don’t have any of the records,” Weiner said in an interview Friday. “I deleted everything.”

A woman came forward last month with explicit photos of Weiner and messages from him, revealing that the married mayoral candidate’s affairs had continued long after he resigned from Congress in 2011. Since then, the embattled Democrat has sought to turn the conversation back to the day-to-day issues of campaigning.

He has been trailed at every appearance by reporters and photographers, and gave a series of interviews Friday in what appeared to be an attempt to close the door on the conversation.

During his 15 minutes with NBC 4 New York, he grew weary of the topic, insisting at one point that the details of his illicit affairs, which he says ended about a year ago, didn’t matter.

“The behavior that people know about, I did, over an extended period of time, with more than one person,” Weiner said. “I just think at a certain point, OK, I think people know these embarrassing things about me. I think at a certain point now we have to have a conversation that goes to, alright, what else should people know?”

About Doug MataconisDoug holds a B.A. in Political Science from Rutgers University and J.D. from George Mason University School of Law. He joined the staff of OTB in May, 2010 and also writes at Below The Beltway.
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Y’know, I can enjoy the embarrassment of someone who’s often been a horse’s patootie just as much as the next fellow. And there is a universal human response to seeing those in elevated positions turn out to have feet of clay. OK. Got that.

And I haven’t been following the story all that closely. So maybe I’m sticking my neck out too far.

But what, exactly, did Mr Weiner do that was so horrible? “Sexting” seems to me like something that consenting people — in this case everyone was an adult, yes? — do. Presumably they have some expectation of privacy (there we go again with the ‘privacy on the internet’ theme). There is no intent to be disgusting or unfaithful to any third party. No one seems to have been victimized or cheated out of money or held up to ridicule by the two people involved. If I understand it correctly this is simply a digital version of ‘you show me yours and I’ll show you mine.” Which most of us outgrew before the 7th grade but maybe not everyone did. And — well, to cut this off short: Who gives a f*ck?

The more this goes on, the more I feel sorry for Mr Weiner. And very very sorry for Mrs Weiner.

weiner maybe, but what about carlos danger? speaking of which, a rev from the bronx was upset that he chose an Hispanic identity to perpetuate his sleaziness! didn’t get much press though for some reason.

” Rev. Erick Salgado, who hails from the Bronx and is of Puerto Rican descent, claims the name is insulting to Hispanics. “For Anthony Weiner to hide under a Spanish name to do his bad behavior is very insulting to the Spanish community,” Salgado said yesterday.

“I believe he have [sic] to apologize to the Latino community. Every time many people do wrong behavior [sic], it’s always a Carlito, a Pedrito, a Miguelito. But behind that name, it was really not a Carlito. It was a ‘Anthony Weiner.’ You have to apologize to the Latino community. It’s an insult,” Salgado said.”

But what, exactly, did Mr Weiner do that was so horrible? “Sexting” seems to me like something that consenting people

,

1-) We don´t know whether the women involved requested or expected to see Weiner´s junk.

2-) Weiner is not a teenager, he is a married family guy that wants to lead the largest city in the hemisphere. That´s creepy, something that we´d expect from losers, not from the Mayor of NY. It´s more creepy than horrible.

@Andre Kenji:
Given the tone of the conversations and that she was sending pics back, I think we can safely assume she wanted the pics.
As to your second point, true enough, but I don’t much care if someone’s sexual preferences seem a bit oogie to me, as long as they aren’t lecturing me on and trying to legislate my morality.

When I saw this headline, all I could think of was the old SNL skit with Dana Carvey as Bush Sr. promising to “never, never, never, never, never….” raise taxes again. (I wish I could find a clip of it, but so far I can’t.)

@Andre Kenji:
I’m guessing this or similar activity went back through most of his career or even before. If it didn’t hinder him doing his job (apart from the media circus), then absent said circus I see no real problem.

@Andre Kenji: I don’t expect I’d vote for the fellow and his recklessness in doing the sexting probably would have something to do with it. He has always impressed me as a self-important horses back-end anyhow. But condemning him for a victimless and childish habit smells to high heaven of hypocracy.